A Strong Nuclear Force
by Atom G
Summary: After many years, science finally proves to Sheldon that it does have a sense of humor and that he is not the only thing that matters in the universe. A two part story, completed.
1. Chapter 1

This was a most peculiar development. A most peculiar development indeed.

The Neutron, quite picky and too literal, floats around the atom, being neither positive or negative. Just satisfied with existing. Enter the proton. Dancing around the inside of the atoms nuclei, positively beaming with energy and endless possibilities. Both content to exist in the nuclei, unknowing of each other. An electron will occasionally enter the picture with the proton, but they won't stay long, being only attracted by electromagnetism. When a proton and a neutron are in close proximity, they create a bond. A strong nuclear force, one would say. So, when the unknowing neutron met the proton for the first time, accompanied by an electron, with extremely low self-esteem, the beginning of a strong nuclear force was created.

It was a well known fact that Sheldon was, for all intents and purposes, annoying. When watching Jurassic Park, he would point out that the T. Rex would not co-exist with the Brachiosaurus because, in fact, it came from the late Cretaceous period. Much later than the Jurassic period. While most would ignore him, numb the incessant drone of a man that loved to hear the sound of his own voice, one person did not. No matter how much coaching the others gave her on how to maneuver oneself out of a never ending battle of wits with Dr. Cooper, Penny found him rather difficult to ignore. In fact, she found it harder and harder to stay away. If a problem occurred, she would simply scoot across the hall and ask him, typically using Leonard, a common ally, as her excuse.

Whether or not the height-challenged young man was home, she was always invited in for herbal tea and some light banter. Mostly, he spoke. Usually, she listened. Either way, the two found comfort in each others company. There were many unknown things about situations and relationships that Sheldon did not know. Like why women allowed themselves to be wooed by flowers. This was the topic of the afternoon.

"Look, Sheldon. They're pretty and they smell nice. There's nothing else to it," Penny shouted, exasperated. A contemplative look played across the theoretical physicists face. "But it makes no sense, Penny. Twenty dollars for a dozen roses that will, inevitably, shrivel up and die seems like a horrible investment."

Moving toward the frig to grab some water, for lack of anything else to do, she shrugged. "What can I tell you. That's what the ladies like."

Another contemplative look. It was clear the beautiful mind of Sheldon Cooper was working up a plan. Hopefully not the blow up the entire city type. After a few moments, the silence was broken and he faced the young aspiring actress from across the counter. "Do you allow yourself to be wooed through the receiving of such trivial items?"

"What, flowers? Yes! Its nice to get flowers once in a while."

It seemed that that was the end of the conversation, as Sheldon began commenting on the fact that she back-washed in her drinks from time to time. Disgusting.

Two days and eleven hours later, forty five minutes before Penny had to go to work to be precise, she heard a knock. Her heart skipped a beat, but nanoseconds later she lost the excitment, not being familiar with the knock. If it had been thrice, accompanied by an annoying holler of her name, it would be Sheldon. Sighing, she dragged herself to the door, rather disappointed it hadn't been so. The had dragged on. But it was Tuesday night, so she would see him at work. She inched the door open, then quickly threw it out of her way. There was a sweaty man, his name tag read "Bill", deep acne scars on the left side of his face. But that didn't matter. What mattered was the package in his arms. The bundle of gorgeous red rose. The kind of red roses that say, "I'm not just a friend, I'm not a one night stand. I'm yours." She eagerly took the package, running inside and dumping the contents of a bottle of apple juice and filling it with water. There was a small card attached. She could have mistook it as blank, but a double take revealed the one word in the bottom right hand corner.

"Moonpie."


	2. Chapter 2

In an ever changing universe, all of nature is intertwined. Well, somehow. The teeny tiniest form of attraction occurs in the bonds between atoms and molecules. Hydrogen and Oxygen don't just don't hang out together for the hell of it. A chemical bond is responsible for this. When a fixed ratio of atoms, in our case one being Jewish, one Indian, and one that may have been related a Nobel Prize winning physicist, are held together in a defined arrangement in space, they are being held together by chemical bonds. Now, the strength in which it takes to break this bond and the energy it takes to hold them together determines how strong a bond is. And now the strength of Sheldon and Penny's bond was being tested.

The inner battle he faced was agony that night. Though every fiber in his body repelled the idea of going to his weekly dinner reservation at the Cheesecake Factory, every cell in his heart cried and whimpered to stay home. But he was a man of knowledge, an explorer of the scientific frontier. And it made no logical sense whatsoever to break routine now. Just because he had suffered from a temporary brain lapse and sent flowers to Penny was no excuse. He pondered this all as he peered into his closet, staring at the color coded t-shirts. Penny once mentioned she was fond of his batman shirt, which was the one he grabbed and tugged over his head.

"Sheldon, what are you doing?!" Leonard's shrill whine echoed from the living room. Without a second glance, Sheldon closed his bedroom door and headed for the coat closet, extracting his windbreaker. Leonard gave his roommate an exasperated look.

"What's gotten into you? We were supposed to meet Wolowitz and Koothrappali at the restaurant ten minutes ago. You're never late."

"May I remind you that it was you that caused the ten minute delay. If you hadn't eaten those sun chips, you never would have had another episode of flatulence."

One glance told Sheldon he had done his job averting any attention toward any odd behaviour he might have shown. With a scoff, Leonard left the house, red in the face and quite annoyed. Sheldon followed.

The ride there was surprisingly pleasant. He had almost entirely forgotten about what he had done an hour ago, but the beautiful mind of Sheldon Cooper never forgets. Which is why, upon parking in the back of the Cheesecake Factory, he began to feel clammy. Perhaps he was showing signs of the common cold. Perhaps Leonard could take him home. That would never work, Penny would just come over and take care of him. Leonard was already halfway down the stairwell when he called for Sheldon.

It was very easy to act like nothing had changed. Wolowitz commented on every woman in the restaurant, Rajesh talked about the new Batman movie that was currently rumored to begin filming, and they both began discussing flaws in previous Batman films. And then she was there. Sidled up to the table, right beside Sheldon, beaming so brightly it was almost blinding. But that was physically impossible, he thought.

"Evening boys, what are we having?"

As everyone read their orders off, Sheldon prepared himself by clearing his throat.

"I'll have-," he was rudely cut off.

"Barbecue bacon cheeseburger, barbecue, bacon, and cheese on the side with a diet coke. I'll be back with your order, hon." With that she turned on her heals and disappeared through double doors. Almost instantly, a pathetic sigh escaped Leonard.

"Dude, she seems very peppy today. Do you think they gave her a raise finally?"

Leonard shrugged, dreamily staring at the double doors.

"Maybe. You know, her birthday is coming up. Perhaps I should, I don't know, ask her out again. Rekindle our previous relationship."

Upon hearing this theory, one he was quite tired of listening to, Sheldon began to think. Why, after all this time, did Leonard still chase after Penny? True, they may have shared some intimate moments, which in his observations had always been out of pity. This obvious delusion of capturing Penny's affections irritated Sheldon, which also frightened him, as he was not fully aware of the feelings he had for her. At best he thought he may have developed what was commonly called a crush: a strong, yet quick and short-lived development of romantic feelings toward another individual. A decision was made: he would have to ignore Penny at all costs. When the food arrived, he made sure he continued talking, keeping eye contact with whomever he was speaking to. When she came to ask how they were doing, making a point to gently place a hand on his shoulder, he simply nodded his head and commented on the temperature in the restaurant. It seemed it was becoming alarmingly hot.

After several requests to check and see if the thermostat was correct, Penny could take it no longer. "Sheldon, hon, can I talk to you?"

"Well, I'm still eatin-"

"Just get over here now!" she hissed, beckoning him towards a hall. Reluctantly, Sheldon excused himself and followed.

"Now Penny, I merely suggested that this facilities thermostat was in need of repair. It's not at all offens-"

"Cut the crap! What's going on?"

He grimaced at the literal image of the phrase. As he stared at her, awaiting her to finish whatever she was obviously getting to, he realised that she really did want to hear what he had to say.

"Well?" She asked, confirming his hypothesis.

"Will you be interrupting me?" He raised an eyebrow, before clearing his throat. " I have no idea what you're referring to, Penny. Perhaps this is something to do with Leonard, as I can't remember us having anything more to discuss. Unless it's about the coffee mug you 'borrowed' and failed to return."

Penny was quite frustrated. It seemed they would get nowhere if both refused to come out and say. Suddenly she felt very nervous. As dating went, she was quite good at getting dates, going on them, and ending them. But those were strangers. Men that were fillers in her life while she waited for the right one. Maintaining normal breathing, she looked Sheldon in the eyes, hoping she had not dreamed up the note or the flowers in some desperate hallucination to feel happy.

"I... I got flowers today. Before work. I mean, they could have been from anyone-"

"Yes, you did go out with Brad just last week."

She shot him a look of impatience, but quickly regained composer.

"Yeah. Well, there was a card... and on this card, someone wrote something..."

The once so perfectly controlled, no silly, OCD Sheldon Cooper cracked. After all, he was completely incapable of keeping secrets, especially large ones. His shoulders slumped, breath became rapid, as he tried to make sense of the whole situation.

"It seems that I have developed some rather strong feelings for you Penny. Not in terms of a friendship, no, it's surpassed that into something deeper, something in which I am completely unfamiliar. I mean, I have observed the others and their ways of courting women, but I have no first hand experience."

One look at Penny's face he could tell he had lost her. Eyes wide like a doe, mouth slightly open, it was clear this was not what she was expecting. A simple 'I did it' would have sufficed. But, like opening the dams at a flood gate, Sheldon found he could not stop talking, confessing things he did not realise he had even been thinking.

"Despite your lack of a higher education or knowledge of Star Trek, and the fact that you still, after many futile attempts, do not understand Klingon boggle, though I have to admit your Halo skills are exceptional, I find that I-I-I... for lack of a better word, I love you."

It was then that, like at Christmas when he had hugged a woman that wasn't directly related to him for the first time, he had done another involuntary act in which he had never done before. Awkwardly, he held Penny's face between his slender hands, closed his eyes like in the movies, and kissed Penny... right on the eye. It was quickly remedied by her, wrapping her arms around him, pressing him against the mundane wallpaper that all Cheesecake Factories donned. Time seemed to slow, Sheldon thought. But this was naturally impossible since kissing did not change any of the molecular matter in the room, nor change his understanding of time and space. After what seemed to be forever, though it was just four minutes and twenty-six seconds, Penny let go of her captive.

With a soft chuckle, she said the words that could only be the attraction of two electrons meeting to create an element.

"I believe I love you, too, Dr. Cooper."


End file.
